Trying to find a bootable device... Failed

[roshanneupane16]

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Follow directions and run 'make all'
Virtualbox launches and starts the startup.nsh script and it stops at 'Trying to find a bootable device... Failed' message.

Expected behavior
Start Mac OS installation screen

Additional context
Host OS is 10.15.4
Guest OS downloaded directly from App Store 10.15

[pkivolowitz]

Failed here as well. No FSn contained the boot file as specified in the readme.

[AlexanderWillner]

Can you post the log file? Generally, the script is working as expected (including the boot device).

[aboulfad]

Hello,
same situation here. Host OS: 10.15.6, guest OS: 10.15.6, Vbox 6.0.22. Log attached, maybe related to this:

Creating dynamic image with size 1048576 bytes (1MB)... VBoxManage: error: VDI: cannot create image '/Users/toto/VirtualBoxVMs/catalina.efi.vdi' VBoxManage: error: Error code VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS at /Users/vbox/tinderbox/6.0-mac-rel/src/VBox/Storage/VDI.cpp(680) in function int vdiImageCreateFile(PVDIIMAGEDESC, unsigned int, PVDINTERFACEPROGRESS, unsigned int, unsigned int) VBoxManage: error: Cannot create the disk image "/Users/toto/VirtualBoxVMs/catalina.efi.vdi": VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS

Seems above error is unrelated and exists in other user's logs.

runMacOSVirtualbox.log

Thank you.

[aboulfad]

oh darn, we are pressing "enter" in Terminal too quick (#56), can't believe i fell for this ... but regardless the step in the VM to go thru the installation steps never happens, VM is stuck on this black screen after this msg in Terminal:
Press enter to stop the VM and to eject the installer medium (to avoid an installation loop for macOS < 10.16)....

Reading all the open issues, potentially related to VB version, i won't be able to test as i don't want to move to VB6.1: #103 (comment)

[aboulfad]

ok i decided to upgrade to VB 6.1.12 to try it out and indeed all works fine ! So in summary do not press "enter" before Catalina is installed and ensure VB 6.1.4 or later is used. thank you.

[RishonDev]

Same here, except I am running virtual box 6.1.16,is there a possible fix for it?I can't find anything online.

[paulschreiber]

I had the same problem with VB 6.1.16 and macOS 10.14.

[AlexanderWillner]

I think the most important issue is to identify in which circumstances the issue arises. While it seems to work on my machine and on others, it seems to be an issue on some others...

[paulschreiber]

I've tried installation a few times (erasing everything between runs), and can't get past this point. What can I do to debug the installation?

[ipatch]

tested this repo with setting up a big sur vm on my mbp 2013 late running mojave. ended up running into the original author's issue.

the work-around i'm using when i get dropped into the efi shell. shut down the VM.

1. create a new vm in vbox, just use the same settings as the one created by the python scrips.
2. set the newly created vm to boot from the ISO/cdr file created from the python scripts
3. attach the created hdd from the generated python scripts.
4. boot the vm

so far so good. vbox is able to launch the installer iso/cdr, the installer found the hdd drive generated by the python scripts, and macos big sur is installing as i type this.

not the most elegant solution, but def quicker than not using these scripts and manually setting up a macos vm for vbox. thanks for putting these scripts / repo together its def a time saver. 🙏

[RishonDev]

try using vmware instead.that is much better than virtualbox.no error,very simple to use.

[eltoneo]

I think the most important issue is to identify in which circumstances the issue arises. While it seems to work on my machine and on others, it seems to be an issue on some others...

---

RE: VirtualBox VM 6.1.18 r142142 darwin.amd64 (Jan 12 2021 14:26:05) release
Hi,
'Make all', ran on a late 2013 MacBook Pro w/Catalina host, Mojave guest, output's the following to Shell:

UEFI Interactive Shell v2.2
EDK II
UEFI v2.70 (EDK II, 0x00010000)
Mapping table
FS0: Alias(s):HD0a65535a1:;BLK1:
PciRoot (0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(1,MBR,0x00000000,0x1,0x7FF)
FS1: Alias(s):HD0b65535a1:;BLK3:
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(Ox1,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,0C2DC02D-26B9-4586-988D-0F4920DA0F31,0x28,0x64000)
BLK0: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(Ox1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK2: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK5:Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x2,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK4:Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(2,GPT,48C34CEC-39BE-4590-A545-1E14952F3F5B,0x64028,0xFF9BFB0)
Press ESC in 1 seconds to skip startup.nsh or any other key to continue.
Image ’fs0:\EFI\drivers\apfs.efi’ loaded at D983E000 - Success
APFSStart:1584: Mounting with apfs_efi_osx-1412.141.1
eft_fusion_pairing:686: Container 9feee6b8-fd96-49a8-b8ed-f1b3cda7471e
efi_fusion_pairing:691: fusion uuid: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
efi_container_create:928: LoadedImage->DeviceHandle = 0xda62fe98
efi_container_create:990: Volume attached is internal
nx_kernel_mount:1385: : checkpoint search: largest xid 2, best xid 2 @ 3
er_state_obj_get_for_recovery:4639: No ER state object for volume macOS - rolling is not happening, nothing to recover.
Mapping table
FS0: Alias(s):HD0a65535a1::BLK1:
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(1,MBR,0x00000000,0x1,0x7FF)
FS1: Alias(s):HD0b65535a1::BLK3:
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,0C2DC02D-26B9-4586-988D-OF 4920DAGF31,0x28,0x64000)
FS2: Alias(s):HD0b65535a2::BLK5:
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(2,GPT,48C34CEC-39BE-4590-A545-1E14952F3F5B,0x64028,0xFF9BFB0)/VenMedia(BE74FCF7-0B7C-49F3-9147-01F4042E6842, 6A8006F970B4914987B1B9A37BFC78D2)
BLK0: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK2: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK6: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x2,0xFFFF,0x0)
BLK4: Alias(s):
PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0xFFFF,0x0)/HD(2,GPT,48C34CEC-39BE-4590-A545-1E14952F3F5B,0x64028,0xFF9BFB0)
Trying to find a bootable device...
Failed.
Shell> $_

---

The ISO it generates appears valid, since it does boot w/vbox, manually, from scratch.

[eltoneo]

tested this repo with setting up a big sur vm on my mbp 2013 late running mojave. ended up running into the original author's issue.

the work-around i'm using when i get dropped into the efi shell. shut down the VM.

1. create a new vm in vbox, just use the same settings as the one created by the python scrips.
2. set the newly created vm to boot from the ISO/cdr file created from the python scripts
3. attach the created hdd from the generated python scripts.
4. boot the vm

so far so good. vbox is able to launch the installer iso/cdr, the installer found the hdd drive generated by the python scripts, and macos big sur is installing as i type this.
Hi,
Just confirmed this work-around does install OS X w/o the package for
sound

[jason-o-matic]

I ran into this and fixed it with the following steps:

1. make clean

• I may have also manually removed any files in ~/VirtualBox VMs/ that looked related

2. make all

• This worked originally with none of the configuration environment variables set
• Once the machine was up I opened VirtualBox and tried to increase CPU and memory to the max allowable, but this seemed to break things
• I tried using the environment variables to set those same max allowable values, but the new VM failed to work
• I decreased the CPU count from 6 to 4 (leaving memory at max allowable) and this seemed to work
• Also worth noting that on the failed runs I changed the display scale from 100% to 150%, but that doesn't seem super related

3. This prompt showed up but I didn't do anything with it "Press enter to stop the VM and to eject the installer medium (to avoid an installation loop for macOS < 10.16)...."
4. I completed the full Big Sur setup process in the VM
5. Inside the VM I clicked the apple in the upper left and chose Shutdown
6. Waited for the VM to completely stop
7. Then I hit enter in my host terminal

When I first read the quoted prompt originally the VM was sitting at the beginning of the mac setup process, but I took the quoted message to mean that I should hit enter immediately, which resulted in the original behavior of this issue.

EDIT: Added info about things I tried that failed. It's also worth noting that every time I click the apple menu and choose shut down, the next time I start the VM I see a prompt saying the machine was shut down because of a problem.

[eltoneo]

ATT: runMacOSinVirtualBox My post highlighted that _no_ sound package get’s installed. Therefore, why bother to run MacOS in Oracle VBox with out any sound? If OS X Mavericks has sound in VBox guest, why can’t Mojave? eltoneo

…

On Apr 22, 2021, at 12:56 PM, Jason Gladish ***@***.***> wrote: I ran into this and fixed it with the following steps: make clean make all This prompt showed up but I didn't do anything with it "Press enter to stop the VM and to eject the installer medium (to avoid an installation loop for macOS < 10.16)...." I completed the full Big Sur setup process in the VM Inside the VM I clicked the apple in the upper left and chose Shutdown Waited for the VM to completely stop Then I hit enter in my host terminal When I first read the quoted prompt originally the VM was sitting at the beginning of the mac setup process, but I took the quoted message to mean that I should hit enter immediately, which resulted in the original behavior of this issue. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#107 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AKO6W3TYQNTNPRRVQFYMWW3TKBPLBANCNFSM4NAGQ65Q>.

[cygeus]

I had to disable 'Nested Paging' in the VirtualBox Machine's settings to make it work:
VM Settings >> System >> Acceleration tab >> uncheck the tick next to 'Hardware Virtualization: Enable Nested Paging'